Last week, our family was blessed with the opportunity to travel to Vigan in Ilocos Sur, Pagudpod in Ilocos Norte and the country's summer capital, Baguio City. We had the time of our lives! The six-day vacation enabled me to bond with my two sisters, our mom and nephews and niece. The kids had tons of fun! We so enjoyed visiting places, shopping for souvenirs, swimming and of course, eating!
In Ilocos, we grabbed the chance to eat local specialty dishes like the "warek-warek", the funny-named eggplant dish "poqui-poqui", the kids' favorite bagnet (they were eating it for 3 days!), and even the unique pinakbet pizza! In Baguio, we were happy to discover Choco-late de Batirol, which specialty is thick hot chocolate made from local cacao beans. Batirol, I read, is the wooden instrument used for mixing and frothing the hot chocolate. Anyway, I heard that Choco-late de Batirol is a must-try in the City of Pines. It's a very charming garden restaurant where you get to enjoy nature and eat good food and drink their famous hot chocolate. The only thing we didn't like was there were many items on their menu that they have ceased to offer but were still listed. So we were disappointed a number of times ordering something and being told they didn't have it. They might as well purge the menu of those items, right, to avoid confusion and disappointment on the part of diners. Overall though, we had a good time at Choco-late de Batirol with the great natural ambiance (lots of plants and trees all around) and delicious food.
These were our orders:
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| Tocino Kalabaw, P160. I was in the mood for the unfamiliar so I ordered this one. Carabao meat was not rave-worthy for me, though I Iiked that it was very tender. |
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| Pork Binagoongan, P280 per order, good for 2-3 persons. |
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| Lechon Paksiw, P310. |
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| Beefsteak, P300. |
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| Bibingka (P105) and hot chocolate traditional blend (P90). A match made in heaven! |
How their hot chocolate is prepared.
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| A simmering cup of chocolate de batirol. Too bad our orders came in paper cups instead of china (ceramic). |
In and around the garden restaurant
When visiting Baguio, you'd be happy to include Choco-late de Batirol inside Camp John Hay in your itinerary. They have two locations in the summer capital and another one in the City of San Fernando in Pampanga. Enjoy your hot cup of goodness!
